Last week, I got a comment from a hopeful FSO who’s planning on learning Farsi to improve his chances of getting hired. That got me thinking. Although it is without doubt in the interest of the United States of America that the Department have people who can speak and read Farsi, in my estimation, it unfortunately isn’t in the individual interest of any Foreign Service Officer to learn Farsi. Here’s why.
- We don’t have an embassy in Tehran. Indeed, if a Foreign Service Officer runs into an official Iranian at a party, we’re not allowed to speak to him. This means that there are no posts that require Farsi (although there are undoubtedly a few jobs that would prefer Farsi-speakers).
- Iran is just one country. Like it or not, Foreign Service Officers are expected to be generalists. In specific terms, that means spending decades working on one issue (or multiple issues with one country) generally won’t get you promoted. I once heard the lament of someone who had spent 15 years working on the Palestinian issue; she said it was the most important foreign policy issue we had, but she kept being told she was specializing too much to get promoted.
The more I think about it, the more I think it’s an oversight. Nevertheless, that’s the reality. The sad truth is that it’s terribly important that we have Farsi-speaking diplomats, but it isn’t important to any diplomat to learn Farsi.
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
FSI teaches Farsi and there are Farsi designated positions overseas (although not in Tehran). It’s also possible that we may open an Embassy in Tehran at some point.
True, but his point is still valid. I imagine Farsi is quite difficult to learn and for only a handful of jobs and the possibility of more down the road, is it worth spending a year of your career at FSI?
Of course, you could make a similar argument for a language like Japanese or Korean. Incredibly difficult to learn and single country languages (albeit important countries.) After a year in training, you’ll still be barely conversational and promotion panels don’t seem to give much weight to long term language training.
@jc - Yeah, I thought about addressing the chance that we open an embassy in Tehran, but that seems like a post for another day. (PS, I’m opposed to the idea.)
@jc - I think Korean is definitely apt. There are at least multiple consulates in Japan, so you have a few different posts. One-country languages are a tricky subject; of course, I’ve never heard of a shortage of Italian speakers…
I think your point is valid, but Farsi is considered one of the “Super Critical Needs Languages,” so a decent score on the telephonic language test could give the applicant the edge needed to pass the QEP. Though, you would hope that the individual has some interest in the language they’re studying and aren’t just doing it to “get ahead.”
Nobody has mentioned that:
1) Farsi is an Indo-European language and is more familiar grammatically than Korean or Japanese.
2) About half the people in Afghanistan speak Dari, which is a Farsi derivative. Tajik is as well.
That said, the original point is well taken.
After mulling it over, I think I’ve settled on French instead of Farsi. By the way, I already speak Mandarin and have a basic command of Spanish. I have a personal interest in French, I lack an understanding of even basic French pronunciation, and I think French could also be useful internationally.
Language study itself should be phased out and the State Department/DOD should pour money into translation technology. It will be far more effective at getting ideas across than a “2″ speaker fumbling with potentially offensive phrases and a dictionary.
that’s ridiculous. translation technology will never capture the nuances of culture and connotation that a person can learn and pick up on. and diplomacy is first and foremost about human interaction. But I guess if some DoD type is more interested in killing people and blowing things up, that doesn’t really matter.
Farsi is actually a relatively easy language to learn and requires far less time investment than, say, Arabic or Mandarin. it’s an easy way to get a SCNL under your belt.
For now, but if you compare the technology now with what we had 10 years ago, it’s been an explosion, from google translate to voice inscribing, to insta-phrases on the iphone. It’s just a matter of time, and language learning will become irrelevant soon. Then we can focus on learning about culture and history rather than memorizing characters and irregular verbs.
Language _is_ culture.
I have to smile at the thought of trying to use translation technology to conduct visa interviews, or any other consular business for that matter.
Lines and waits are long enough already in plenty of places.
You think conducting business or doing interview at a 2/2 will really be easier than with the technology that will be available in 10 years?
If you look at the Critical Needs Language list, it has Kyrgyz, Tajik, and Uzbek, which are also spoken in exactly one post each.
I’m studying Persian now, it really is not that difficult once you get past the script. In Tajikistan they use cyrillic script and have the courtesy to write all the vowels :)
Why Farsi is important.
Well, it is not the language itself that is important. It is the geopolitical location of Iran as well as the disperse populations of Persian/Farsi speaking people throughout the world. To reflect my point regarding the language, please see the information regarding “Farsi” on Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farsi
Learning Farsi vocabulary and grammar would not help you to understand the hidden cultural implications in the language; for example, ‘Tarof” which is polite language, similar to praising, welcoming (even if it may be superficial) where both parties are expected to understand the implied topic of discussion, rather then direct discussion of the topic, which if discussed, may have negative consequences.
Also, spoken Farsi is dramatically different from standard written Farsi.
Colloquial Fasi is spoken in a poetic way. In addition, use of historical cultural references and reciting riddled-/poetry during the conversation to confirm one’s idea or opinion are common.
Governments of Farsi/Persin speaking nations and political groups are actively creating, planning and searching for new political territories either in form of arms conflicts or politically leveraging one power over another through alienation or friendship. Some may support the United States and some may oppose it. Disregarding this language and culture will be a mistake.
I disagree that Persian is not a useful language to know in the Foreign Service. Persian speakers are spread throughout southeast and Central Asia, as mentioned above, in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Iran. There are minority numbers of Persian speakers in a number of other states, e.g. Armenia. Additionally, as probably the most widespread Indo-European language written (for the most part) in Arabic script, Persian is the gateway to a number of other languages, such as Pakhtu/Pashtu, Baluchi, or other derivates in Western Pakistan and Eastern Afganistan. Additionally, Persian shares many similarities with Urdu and Hindi (mutually intelligible other than their respective scripts) which are spoken by hundreds of millions of people. However, I suppose that I am also totally biased in this position. Though a native English speaker, and FS hopeful, I have previously scored a satisfactory score on a Persian OPI. My main language of study is Arabic. However, I intend to continue studying both, along with Pakhtu, and I hope I’m able to secure a spot in the FS having just passed the QEP. I think, rather than not being in a perspective FSO’s interest, Persian is actually central to creating a new dialogue in the international spectrum, and that will carry over into individual prospects within the FS. Additionally, I have very little faith in the effective progress of automatic translation. I think people are putting far too much faith in the capabilities of machines in that regard. The cultural nuances of language, as attested to above, are simply not available in that format.
I speak intermediate Russian which I hope would help get me sent to any one of the Former Soviet Republics. Since there are 15 of them, it could be pretty useful. I also speak Czech but this isn’t useful in and of itself, but certainly gives me a leg up on learning another Slavic language. Therefore… if knowing Persian could help one learn related languages easily, then all the better.
Forget automatic translation technologies. Helpful for translating simple documents and emails, but not for real diplomacy. Just speaking a few unexpected words in an uncommon language can make a world of difference and start to build a relationship.
I repeat my note from the other language subject stream:
Anyone interested in the lo-down on a State Department telephone language exam from someone who actually took and passed one in the, egad, “Georgian” language? The test alone will demonstrate why real language acuisition is still important. I won’t bore you with the details unless anyone is really interested.
BTW, great blog!
I speak Farsi and Sorani dialect Kurdish and am taking the exam in October. I’m wondering how the phone tests work for a language such as Kurdish that has different dialects that are very different from one another. Will they ask you prior to scheduling your test date? Iraqi Kurdish is quite different than Turkish Kurdish, and Kurdish spoken in Iran is similar to Iraqi Kurdish, but still somewhat different…
Agree with the earlier poster who pointed out that knowing Farsi also equips you to communicate (somewhat) in Dari or Tajik so your value isn’t confined to Iran only. That said, the skill is probably of more value to an intelligence analyst than an FSO.
On a slightly related point, I’ve found that a number of FSO applicants tend to game the process rather than pursue practical goals aligned with their self-interest. Beyond selecting languages, it extends to cone selection. I’ve run across many who have no interest or aptitude in management yet selected the cone based on the reputation that it’s less competitive.
I get your point but I still wouldn’t say Farsi isn’t important! If not so much now it certainly will be, not to mention a Farsi speaker could easily switch over to the Dari dialect with minimal training and be in very high demand for Afghanistan…
It would probably make more sense to learn Farsi to go to work for the CIA.
We have what, a few dozen people working on Iran at State? I think the author’s point is well-made: no doubt Iran is a priority in our foreign policy process, but when it comes down to it the people doing the day-to-day stuff are mostly FSOs who could very well be moving on to a completely different part of the world in 2-3 years. No use putting a huge emphasis on it when people aren’t going to be working on it for more than a couple of years.
FARSI is important and would be helpful to know, one, Dari, widely spoken in Afghanistan is an eastern dialect of Farsi. Knowing Farsi means knowing the basics of Dari. Also, it might help know Farsi to get into the intelligence bureau or perhaps getting involved in the more clandestine agencies of the US (i.e. CIA). An FSO with FARSI knowledge could mean big further down one’s career.